Is Houston One Of The Best Baseball Cities in America?

The World Series kicks off TONIGHT . . . featuring Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Toronto Blue Jays, who have a formidable team. The Blue Jays won the AL East by defeating the New York Yankees in the ALDS and the Seattle Mariners in the ALCS.

A new study just ranked 333 cities from the best place for baseball to the worst.  Why 333?  Those are all the cities that have at least one Major League Baseball, minor league, or NCAA baseball team.

The rankings are based on 31 factors, including the recent performance of the local teams . . . past championships . . . coaching changes . . . attendance . . . fan engagement . . . and ticket prices.

The top 26 cities on the list are, not coincidentally, cities that have MLB teams . . . with New York, Los Angeles, and Atlanta coming out on top. Houston is the highest-ranking city in Texas at #13.

The highest-ranking city without a Major League team is Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Jersey City, New Jersey, came in last out of the 333 cities.

So this year, L.A. came in second, and Toronto wasn’t ranked, because they only included American cities.  Which seems like a big miss, especially with the Blue Jays making the World Series.

Doug O’Brien